The Ritual Nurse

Practicing in Pride! Who me? YES YOU.

• Riva - The Ritual Nurse • Season 1 • Episode 19

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This week on The Ritual Nurse, we're celebrating Pride not just with rainbows, but with radical accountability, affirming care, and professional truth-telling. What does it really mean to practice nursing with equity—not just equality? How do we ensure that LGBTQIA+ and especially transgender patients receive safe, trauma-informed care, even when someone’s personal beliefs might conflict?

Spoiler alert: it’s not about opinion—it’s about ethical practice.
 We cover:

  • The difference between gender and sex (and why that matters)
  • What cisgender and transgender actually mean
  • Why using inclusive language is clinical best practice, not “going above and beyond”
  • What to do when your personal beliefs and professional role collide
  • Real resources for continuing your education as a safe, affirming nurse
  • Plus: our “Clinical Pearls for Affirming Care” checklist and a rainbow-wrapped Coffee, Crystals, and Divination segment 💫

Whether you're here to learn, unlearn, or just feel seen—welcome home.

These are real, evidence-based, affirming organizations and tools for clinicians:

LGBTQIA+ Healthcare & Transgender Care

Inclusive & Trauma-Informed Nursing Practice

Further Professional Development

  • LGBTQIA+ Curriculum Toolkit (AAMC)

Hey! Make sure you subscribe to stay connected. Love a nurse? Who doesn't! Share with all the nurses you know. The more we reach, the more we help. We feel like no one deserves center stage focus more than nurses and our mission is to reach the millions of superstars out there. We'd love to hear your stories, your adventures, your wins, and especially your needs and questions! Email us at hello@ritualnurse (dot) com. Also, you can send us fan mail! Use the link at the beginning of the show notes. Resources, classes, blogs, and podcast info can be found on our home site at TCTH.org. The Ritual Nurse Podcast is part of The Code Team educational platform.

Love your FAYCES!

Speaker 1:

Welcome to the Ritual Nurse, where healing meets humor, science and a touch of magic. Hey, nurses, besties, healers and hope holders, you've clocked into the Ritual Nurse, the podcast that stitches together science, sacredness and self-reclamation've clocked into the Ritual Nurse, the podcast that stitches together science, sacredness and self-reclamation. I'm your host, reba, nurse, executive, educator and proud queer woman, and this week we're lighting up the floor with a Pride Month episode. That isn't here to play small. We're going to talk about what it means to not just wave the rainbow flag, but to practice pride in our care. Whether you're an ally, whether you're queer, whether you don't have any idea, Through advocacy, equity and unapologetic humanity. That's how we practice with pride. If you're a nurse, this one's for you. If you're a queer nurse, maybe this one's especially for you. You, if you're a queer nurse, maybe this one's especially for you.

Speaker 1:

So let's break down what it really means to offer equitable care and how. Treating everyone the same is not the gold standard. So equality gives everyone the same resources. I talk to my students about this all the time in understanding the difference between equality and equity. So equality is everybody can walk through the door. Equity, however, ensures that everyone gets the right resources for their needs. Equity ensures that everyone gets the care they need, not just sure they can walk through the door and ask for it. So when we practice with pride again, whether you're straight, whether you're queer, whether you are unsighted, practicing with pride is something every single nurse has to do, and it's ensuring that our professional conduct offers our patients both equity and equality across the board, irregardless of their race, their gender, their religion, their sex, their beliefs.

Speaker 1:

So the ANA Code of Ethics, provision 8, says collaboration for human rights and the reduction of health disparities. The Code of Ethics are actually something that we, as nurses, are professionally obligated to uphold, and collaborating with each other and interprofessional teams on behalf of human rights and the reduction of health disparities are an ethical provision we actually have to uphold. So when we say health equity, what we're meaning is that our care must account for the systemic oppression, trauma and barriers that our patients face, especially those who are queer, trans or multiply marginalized, are people of color, are marginal populations, are indigenous populations, are Black patients and colleagues and coworkers. The Healthy People 2030 has an initiative goal to eliminate health disparities and advance equity, and, as nurses, we're the frontline runners to be able to do that, to be able to advance culture, to be able to reverse and eradicate the systemic disparities and our social barriers to healthcare, our social inequities and healthcare disparities. We're the frontrunners to be able to combat that, and it's really important that we recognize from the very beginning, no matter again what our personal beliefs are, that our professional licensure and responsibility ethically requires that we uphold these provisions and that we provide care with both equity and equality in the face of these disparities, despite the disparities and eradicate them. One of the ways that we do that as nurses is educating ourselves, and that's really what this podcast is about. This podcast, this episode specifically, is about education and understanding personal biases and really encouraging you to take a look at how your personal beliefs may be influencing and causing professional bias. See, here's the thing I will absolutely fight for your right to have your beliefs, whether they be religious, whether they be personal, whether they be completely opposite of mine or in accordance with mine or somewhere in the middle. I absolutely will fight for your right to have them. What's really important, however, is that we're able to discern whether any of those personal beliefs cause a professional bias and harm our patient. The way we do that is with education.

Speaker 1:

Implicit bias is something that, psychologically, every single human has, and implicit bias is unique in that we actually are subconsciously unaware that we have them. There's specific tests that you can do that are designed to uncover implicit bias and reveal them to yourself. But, aside from working with a professional or, you know, completing testing that is designed to uncover implicit bias, we're not aware of it on any level, and these biases are created by the culture that we're raised in, the psychosocial and socioeconomic patterns and context that we grew up in, that our formative years were surrounded by that. The choices we learned to make as we grew up were governed by, if you will, that created patterns of behavior and understanding of the contextual world around us that actually almost predetermine our responses to things and color our perception of things. So unless we do the in-depth work of uncovering our implicit biases, a we're completely unaware that we have them and, b they influence our actions before we even think about taking them. They color our perceptions before we've even had a chance to examine what we perceived about the situation.

Speaker 1:

So, as nurses, we're really kind of obligated to do this work as we advance in our practice and as we offer care to other people. Reason being is our job exists as a power dynamic. Every patient that comes to see you joins in that power dynamic with you. As a nurse, and because we're a nurse, we actually have the upper hand in the power dynamic. And I don't mean that solely from a control perspective, because, you know, we give our patients, we empower them to have autonomy, we empower them to advocate and take part in their own care. But it has to do with trust and vulnerability. And when your patients come to you, most of the time, 99.9% of the time, they're not there for a happy reason. I mean, yes, of course there are some areas in medicine that are happy looking at you, ellen B, but for the most part they're coming to you in a situation where they are the vulnerable one and they have to share things with you and go through things with you. Where you have the upper hand and the power dynamic.

Speaker 1:

That means that we have an enhanced ethical responsibility to do our best to do no harm. You know the gold standards, beneficence, all that. Those are actually ethical obligations that we have to uphold as nursing professionals. Now notice, I keep talking about ethics and not morals. Interestingly enough, they're very separate things and people's morals can be different while they ethically uphold the same standards. That's actually a real possibility. Your morals are just are decided by many of the beliefs that you hold, especially core beliefs, given that most human beings don't share the same core beliefs, and their formative experiences and years have ended up with them, you know, believing different perspectives about maybe even the same topics. People's morals will vary and they'll differ, and that's actually okay. The ethical obligations and professional standards that we have to adhere to, however, those all have to be the same. So doing the educational work to uncover your biases and understand different perspectives so that you can meet the ethical and professional obligations of being a nurse and a healthcare provider are something that we have to do. We owe it to ourselves, we owe it to our patients, and the only way to do that is to educate ourselves by exposure, by investigation, by self-reflection, by self-awareness and by having the emotional maturity to have really hard conversations with ourselves. And when we know better, we do better, and we have to make space for other people to do the same thing. So that's really what this podcast episode is about, in addition to glitter and sparkles and all sorts of fun things.

Speaker 1:

But let's kind of take a look here at Transgender and Gender Affirming Care 101. Now I know these are some really wild trigger words lately, but again we've got to highlight some of these things. We've got to highlight some of these actions and implicit biases and how those don't match up with the ethical and professional standards that we have to meet. So we're going to talk about things like dead naming and misgendering and microaggressions that are actually clinical harm. We're going to talk about the importance of asking pronouns and documenting them in charts. We'll talk about hormone therapy basics and knowing when to refer to gender affirming specialists. In the show notes there's going to be some resources for you to, you know, look up things. If this podcast episode doesn't answer some of the questions that you have, you're always feel feel free to email me and ask me. If you don't feel comfortable posting them on socials or as a comment, you can always reach out to me and ask me. If you don't feel comfortable posting them on socials or as a comment, you can always reach out to me and ask me these questions, but I'll make sure that there's resources in the show notes so you can continue your learning and investigation and exploring other perspectives if these things are things that you're unaware of.

Speaker 1:

So transgender care really starts with language and why words matter. Let's start with the basics, because before you can offer safe, affirming care, you need to understand the language, and not just what the words mean, but what they signify in a patient's lived experience. We're not expected to be experts in everything, but we are required to provide safe and respectful care, and that starts with learning. So if you don't know the difference between cis and trans, or sex versus gender, that's okay. Get curious, get educated. That is our job, and this podcast episode will hopefully answer those questions for you.

Speaker 1:

Let's start with gender versus sex first. So biological sex refers to physical characteristics. A person is born with Chromosomes, hormone levels, internal and external anatomy. We're all nurses and medical professionals. For the most part. There are a lot of welcome individuals that are not medically trained that do listen to this podcast and get benefit from it. So I'm going to kind of cover some of those things.

Speaker 1:

But when it comes to biological sex first of all, according to science, there's not just only two genders. That's not opinion, that's not tinfoil hat wearing conspiracy theory, it's not woke, and we'll talk about that expression in another episode, but it's just science, there's multiple combinations of chromosomes that result in actually more than just two genders. Science usually refers to just two genders to simplify things because, for the most part, that happens to be the predominant gene expression for our species, but it isn't the only kind. So we need to make sure that we're not using science to justify unethical, unprofessional and harmful behavior. Gender, however, is a social and psychological identity. It doesn't have anything to do with what your biological sex is. Sometimes people's gender expression matches their biological sex, sometimes it doesn't, and sometimes it changes.

Speaker 1:

So gender is how someone understands themselves and moves through the world, expressing themselves. So you could be born a biological male. However, your understanding of yourself, your perception of self, how you feel inside your gender may be female. So you move through the world, expressing yourself as the gender you understand yourself to be, which is female, regardless of being biologically male at birth. The same goes for the reverse of that and the middle of that as a spectrum. There are some people that don't feel like either gender, and there are some people that sometimes feel like one gender and sometimes feel like the other, and that's okay.

Speaker 1:

If you don't understand it, you don't have to understand it, unless it's your body and your lived experience. Not only do you not have to understand it, but to provide ethical and professional care, we don't have to agree with it either. Care we don't have to agree with it either. We just have to treat that patient with respect and care and ethically and professionally meet the standards of care that we are required to give. So, personally, you honestly don't have to understand everything about it and, quite frankly, unless it's your lived experience, you're not going to, and you also have the right to not agree with it. What you don't have the right to do, however, is harm patients or deny care or provide substandard care or withhold care because of your personal beliefs.

Speaker 1:

So biological sex is assigned at birth. It's an old standard. They did it for classification reasons. It was easy that way and, believe it or not, even the non-male, non-female, other genders are also assigned at birth. They just aren't talked about as much. Gender, however, is how these people live and, as people get older, sometimes people know it earlier on in life, sometimes people discover it later on in life, but the two don't always match and sometimes it changes, and that's 100% okay. That has absolutely nothing to do with our ethical obligations and the professional standards that we have to meet.

Speaker 1:

Let's talk about cisgender versus transgender. So the word cisgender simply means your gender identity matches the sex that you were at birth. Cis just means same. Transgender means that your gender identity doesn't match the sex that you were at birth. And cisgender is not a slur, it's just a neutral, descriptive word, like saying you're right-handed or left-handed or ambidextrous. It's been used in academic texts for decades and decades. It's not new. It's not political either. It's just language, and as nurses, we have to make sure that we understand medicine and science apolitically. It is not within our ethical and professional scope of practice to wield the political hammer against anybody, not when we're providing care to patients.

Speaker 1:

Now, can you have your own political beliefs? A thousand percent, yes. I will absolutely fight for your right to have your own political beliefs and religious beliefs and personal beliefs. To have your own political beliefs and religious beliefs and personal beliefs, absolutely. What you can't do, however, is harm others because of those personal, political, religious or other beliefs. So, now that we understand what the terms mean, what does transitioning mean? What does it mean to transition?

Speaker 1:

Transitioning is just the process that someone may go through to live in alignment with their gender identity. I personally am cisgendered, so I don't have personal lived experience with being a biological gender that I don't relate to or don't understand or feel foreign in. I don't have body dysmorphia or gender dysmorphia, as it were. In that regard, however, from what I've learned in talking to transgendered individuals and patients is that the range of experiences for them being a different gender than they understand themselves to be or know themselves to be is everything from uncomfortable to just the most miserable lived experience they can describe. The gender dysphoria is, from all descriptions that I've heard, is just an awful, unbelievable experience for them, for many of them. And transitioning is the process that they go through, matching the two so that their gender, their understood and lived expression matches the gender they feel, and that may not match their biological gender or sex there, rather, but that's okay. Transitioning is just a process that they go through to align themselves, and this can include social transitioning, like changing their names, their pronoun, their presentation. It can include medical transitioning, whether that be hormone, whether that be surgeries, both, none, all of it.

Speaker 1:

Transitioning is a spectrum and the person that's going through transition, they're going to transition to whatever extent is right for them. There's no template for it. There's no right or wrong for it. But when it comes to transitioning, a transgender man is someone who was assigned female at birth, who identifies and lives as a man. Their gender, that they know they are inside, is male, even though they were biologically a female at birth. A transgender woman is someone who was biologically male at birth, who identifies and lives as a woman. Their understood gender and experience is that they're a woman, even though biologically they may have been a male at birth.

Speaker 1:

So not all trans people transition medically and not all want to. In fact, some transgendered people don't transition socially like other transgendered people. Some may be okay with their original name. Some may not use their original name whatsoever and consider that their dead name. They may want a different name that accurately reflects the gender that they are. They may change their pronouns. They may not change their pronouns. Again, transitioning for an individual is very personal to that individual and is along a spectrum and it's whatever fits or is right for them. And again, not having this lived experience, if you're not transgender, you may not understand aspects of it and that's okay.

Speaker 1:

Becoming educated about how to provide care to transgender individuals doesn't inherently mean that you have to understand every aspect of it, that you have to agree with every aspect of it. It means that you're educated on the ways that you can show your transgender patients respect, provide the appropriate care for your transgender patients and meet the ethical and professional standards that we are required to as professional nurses. So your patient's transition honestly isn't our business unless it's medically relevant. And even then ask, respectfully, use the name and pronouns. They give you period. Just to give you an example, we do that all the time for patients who aren't transgendered.

Speaker 1:

You can have a patient that comes in whose name is William and tells you please call me Bill. I hate the name William. It reminds me of my dad and he's a really bad person. So just please call me the name Bill. Well, bill isn't the name on his driver's license or birth certificate. That's not actually his name. But we call him Bill without even hesitating or thinking about it. It's no different for a transgendered person to tell you their name is Bill and they were actually born as Jane. There's no difference, none whatsoever.

Speaker 1:

We use different pronouns for people all the time we have since the advent of the English language, we use the word they indiscriminately across the board to refer to a singular person, multiple people, all the time. There's really no reason whatsoever to have any problems with the use of pronouns, especially if you speak English on a regular basis. You use pronouns all the time, day in and day out. So refusing to use pronouns that someone tells you they prefer, refusing to use pronouns that someone tells you they prefer there's not a single good reason to do so. Why language matters in healthcare is really important. Let's talk about patient safety, because when we misgender, we deadname or we're dismissive of patients, it's not just rude, it's actually clinical harm.

Speaker 1:

Transgender and non-binary patients often avoid preventative care Things like pap smears, mammograms, prostate exams, sti testing of entering into that power dynamic where they have to sit there in complete vulnerability and endure mocking, disrespect, dismissal and sometimes worse is an awful thing to put a human through who has come to you for help. The 2022 US Trans Survey showed that nearly one in three trans people delay or avoid medical care due to previous mistreatment and fear of further discrimination. How many patients are not getting the care that they need Because the healthcare system is full of people that have made it such a miserable experience? We, as nurses we're often the first point of contact in a care setting. That means we hold the power to make it safe or make it traumatic, and that's a responsibility we have to take seriously. It's our ethical and professional responsibility to take it seriously and treat all of our patients regardless of race, sex, gender, religion. We have to treat them respectfully and with equity, not just equality. So some tips for really safe, respectful practices Ask what name and pronouns do you use and then use them.

Speaker 1:

Don't assume gender based on appearance or the biological sex that's listed in the chart. When in doubt, neutral language is perfect. The word patient folks. They partner humans. Neutral language is perfectly acceptable and easy to use. Affirming care is clinical care. It's evidence-based, it's literally science-based. It reduces harm, it increases follow-up, it improves health outcomes. This isn't about personal beliefs, it's about best practices. It's about best practices. So if you're going to pause here and go back to shift end of shift give report, whatever it is that you're doing. If you're going to pause here, then we wish you the best of shifts or the safest drive. If you are going to come back to us after the break, well, hydrate, take some deep breaths and remember your care is sacred. When you come back, we're going to dive into the real talk about bias. You, you, you.

Speaker 2:

I've been beaten to the ground, dragged across the dirt, I've been scared to live, cause some people never learn, but they're not gonna, not gonna watch me burn, cause baby, I got you, you, you, you. There's a new beginning and a better life. There's no new beginnings and a better life. There's a dancing underneath the disco lights. They can try, but they can never take me down. Ooh, ooh, ooh, I'm not afraid. I'm not afraid. I'm not afraid to love. Not afraid to love, I'm not afraid, I'm not afraid. All right, welcome back my hydrated lovelies.

Speaker 1:

Let's kick this off with some clinical pearls, shall we? Clinical pearls for affirming LGBTQIA plus and transgender care? So these are tangible tips that are evidence-based, trauma-informed and life-saving for many of your patients, that every nurse can start using immediately, and they're super easy. Honestly, if you don't work in an area where you have a lot of exposure to the queer community or transgendered patients, there's a lot of education and difficult conversations and context that you may not be exposed to all the time, and that's okay. Part of this education is, hopefully, to give you tips and give you language to use that make you more comfortable in these situations, and sometimes it can be really hard to ask. I mean, social media is absolutely brutal these days, so you really, honestly, may not feel safe to ask questions about things that you don't have exposure to or don't have a good understanding of, and that's okay. Hopefully this podcast episode answers some of those. Again, you can always email me if you want to ask questions about other things and don't feel safe to do so in the comments or on socials. But let's check out some of these clinical pearls. The first one is always ask. Never assume you just want to ask every patient what name and pronouns would you like us to use? Super simple, super fast. You can even add it to the top of your nursing brain to help you remember. Document them in a visible section of the chart. If your EMR allows, if it doesn't, maybe advocate for a change.

Speaker 1:

Use neutral language if you don't know which language to use, or until your patient directs otherwise. You can say parent. You can say caregiver. You can say partner. You can say parent. You can say caregiver. You can say partner. We can say everyone, team, folks, human. Tons of different neutral language choices that are not awkward, that are super easy and just roll right off the tongue. And, honestly, the more you practice it, the easier it becomes. So an example would be hey, I'm your nurse today. What name and pronouns should I use for you? Hi, folks, I'm Reva, I'm your nurse today. I'm here to take care of everybody. What name and pronouns can I use for you? Super easy to use neutral language.

Speaker 1:

Third, be prepared to understand different types of hormone therapy. Guys, we do this all the time for all of our patients across the board that have different hormone therapy, regardless of whether they're transitioning or not. So there's really no difference in working with a menopausal cisgendered female who's dealing with hormone therapy and giving them the best care possible versus somebody who's transitioning and giving them the best care possible versus somebody who's transitioning and giving them the best care possible, or vice versa, like there isn't any difference and there shouldn't be. So we should really be prepared to understand hormone therapy, no matter what genre of medicine you work in, because hormones affect everything about our homeostasis, about our metabolic balance in our body, everything about our homeostasis, about our metabolic balance in our body. So one of the things that really impacts patient care for our transgendered patients and queer patients is understanding hormone therapy and preventative care that might be necessary or how medications might impact their hormone therapy. One of the things, for example, is that trans men they may be on testosterone. Trans women may be on estrogen and an antiandrogen like spironolactone or, you know, finasteride. So understanding their hormone therapy and their levels will give you a really good clue to understand how medications are going to affect their body, how they may interact, if there's pharmacokinetics or polypharmacy that may happen, and signs and symptoms, even preventative screenings. So one of the things that's really important is to discuss preventative screenings with your transgender patients, depending on what biological anatomy they have. They may or may not need certain preventative screenings.

Speaker 1:

And here's another tip Cisgendered people don't always have the same anatomy either, and it doesn't make them any less of a male or female human. So having different internal and sometimes external anatomy for cisgendered people, we've never allowed that to make them less than what they are. So for transgendered people, that shouldn't make them less than they are either. There shouldn't be a double standard. Just ask about the biological anatomy. You can even ask them. You know, hey, I want to make sure that you don't experience any you know gender dysphoria or invalidation during this visit, but I do have to ask you about biological anatomy to make sure we're getting you the safest care possible. Is there a way for me to do that that validates your experience and makes this a good experience for you and your patients will really appreciate it? Good experience for you and your patients will really appreciate it.

Speaker 1:

Don't just assume that your patient, whether transgendered or cisgendered, has certain biological anatomy. You actually have to ask because every human is different and not all of them have the anatomy that you would expect. So with hormones and understanding hormone therapies, you know know what labs to expect, like estrogen, lowers hemoglobin testosterone, and not every time, but it can. Testosterone increases it sometimes. So you want to know on their labs for abnormals to look for, for polypharmacy or pharmacokinetic effects to look for, and you know, be aware of that for your patients.

Speaker 1:

Another clinical pearl is to recognize dysphoria triggers in care settings, and this also goes for our trauma patients. So wearing gowns or changing into gowns, pelvic exams and disrobing can be triggering for a lot of our patients, not just our transgendered patients, but especially for our transgendered patients, but especially for our transgendered patients. Offer choice in who performs the exam or who's there for it, and narrate your actions with consent, and this goes for all of your patients, no matter what gender or biological sex they are. An example of that would be saying hey, would you like me to explain each step before I begin? Or asking your patient is there anything I can do to make you feel more comfortable?

Speaker 1:

Pearl number five don't dead name or misgender. But if you do own it, you can say I'm sorry, I used a wrong name pronoun. Thank you for correcting me. Then move on. Don't make it about you because it isn't about you. Don't over-apologize, don't get defensive. Just move on and do better. That's all. Clinical Pearl Six privacy matters. Never out someone to family, other providers, coworkers without explicit consent. Outing someone can lead to real, lasting physical and sometimes fatal harm. It's not our information to share.

Speaker 1:

Clinical Pearl 7, advocate for inclusive systems. Does your intake form allow for more than male or female, to be marked for gender? Does your EHR have fields for chosen name and pronouns? Are your waiting rooms safe spaces or are they landmines? We're nurses. We absolutely have voices and power. You can say something. You should say something, affirming care isn't extra, it's just ethical, it's professional and it is absolutely essential nursing practice.

Speaker 1:

So let's talk about beliefs versus bias. The ethics of care. This is hard truth time, my loves, hard truth time. Personal beliefs, including religious ones, do not justify biased care. The Joint Commission says that discrimination based on gender identity or sexual orientation is a violation of patient rights. Even if you're not in the United States, I'm pretty sure, pretty sure, that other countries have regulating and safety bodies, just like the joint commission, that have much the same statements. Personal beliefs are yours. Your professional actions, however, are regulated by licensure, ethics and the law ethics and the law.

Speaker 1:

I'm going to say this clearly If your belief system includes denying care, respect or dignity to any patients. You are in the wrong profession. This is a job that requires heart and humanity and does not allow for harm. The ANA position statement is really clear Nurses must not discriminate. Now, implicit bias is a real thing and unless you uncover your implicit biases and do the hard work of correcting them, you may be discriminating and not even intend to. You may be discriminating and not even intend to, but when we know better, we do better.

Speaker 1:

Like I said before, this isn't about forcing you to change your beliefs. I will absolutely fight for your right to have your beliefs, even if they are opposite mine. I wholeheartedly, heart and soul and mind agree with you having your beliefs. You have that right. However, your personal beliefs had better not impact your professional practice. Denying care, withholding care, substandard care, discriminating in care, denying respect, denying dignity, denying dignity those are not acceptable behaviors. As healthcare providers, as nurses, when we enter into that power dynamic with our patients who sit with us in vulnerability and trust, we are ethically and professionally obligated across the board to offer equity and equality in non-discriminatory care.

Speaker 1:

I hope that this podcast episode has really helped you guys understand different terms, maybe different perspectives. Like I said, there's going to be resources in the show notes. And I know, I know that this podcast made some of you listening upset, angry, uncomfortable, and that's okay. I don't shame you for having those feelings. I know that this podcast, this episode, contradicted with some of your personal beliefs, and that's okay too. I champion your right to have them as they are. I'm just hoping that this podcast helped to educate you on meeting the ethical and professional standards that you have to as a nurse and healthcare provider, regardless of the personal beliefs that you have.

Speaker 1:

Let's get into our coffee crystals and divination segment. It's pride month, so rainbows and sparkles and everything lovely are in full abundance this month, um, and I absolutely love it, and not just because I'm queer, but just because I love those things in general. But for our coffee crystals and divination segments, coffee this week it's all about the iced coffees. I don't know about you, but summer has hit with a vengeance here and one of the things that I've been struggling with is any kind of normal intake in the morning. So I'm really kind of back to vibing on those protein coffees and really trying to figure out different ways to combine really good iced coffee with protein shakes, protein powder Ah I, if you have a really good protein powder, then recommend it, because the ones I've tried either they taste awful and have like this weird chemical saccharine kind of aftertaste which is gross, or they don't blend well with iced coffee. Even if I put it in there and it's cold because I don't want to use hot coffee because it'll denature the protein, but it's just grainy and that is not the experience or the vibe that your girl is trying to go for here. I want smooth and creamy and refreshing and delicious. I do not want my coffee time to be a struggle. So premier protein is one of my favorite protein shakes. Especially the fact that I can get them in bulk at Costco makes life easy. And the dark chocolate one is epic. If you haven't found it, please go find it, it's amazing. The chocolate peanut butter one has been like mega on my list, and even the vanilla one is just phenomenal. All of those mixed with coffee are really, really good. But if you have a protein blend that you recommend that doesn't taste like chemicals or feel like some weird gritty sand got in your iced coffee, then let your girl know, put it in the comments and socials, hit that text link in the show notes and send me a text with it. Um, I will absolutely try them and give my review on them. Um, or if you have like a favorite coffee protein recipe, hit me up with that too.

Speaker 1:

I've been seeing a lot of advertisements for um like a coffee extract. Um, it J, a, v, y is the name of the company. I don't know how to pronounce it. I don't know if I don't know how to pronounce it, I'm not even gonna try, but I've seen that as kind of a coffee additive. So it's really concentrated coffee extract or coffee derivative and you add a little bit of that to protein shakes. I don't know if that one is bitter. I do know that I've tried a couple cold brew coffee brands in like the refrigerated section of the grocery store and have not yet found one that wasn't horrifically bitter. So I've kind of just stuck to making my own coffee um and going about it that way. So any tips or tricks that you guys have for iced protein coffees, let me know, cause I would love it. I would love it.

Speaker 1:

Let's pull our crystal Oracle card for the week and see what they have to say. I love doing this. This is literally my favorite, favorite section, and right before the close of this podcast episode, I have a little hint that I'm going to give you guys about a project that I'm working on. Wow, okay, that card flew out of my hand. Oh, serpentine exploration Again, totally irrelevant, I couldn't have planned this if I tried. Exploration is the card. This is really cool.

Speaker 1:

I don't know if you guys have ever seen serpentine in person. Um, I usually get the name wrong and my friends laugh about it, but it is a really cool stone. Um, and a lot of times it's got like a velvety feel to the pocket of the serpentine. But it signifies new beginnings, resilience and independence. Serpentine but it signifies new beginnings, resilience and independence. Pack your bags and get ready for the adventure of a lifetime. This card invites you to scale new heights with a spirit of independence, curiosity and resilience. Because of its deep connection to the earth, serpentine enhances your bond with the energy of nature that surrounds you. So bring your sense of adventure, explore your surroundings, open your heart to new opportunities and navigate life's twists and turns with determination, much like conquering a grand mountain. If that description isn't a summary of us approaching the topics we covered in this podcast episode, I have no idea what else could be unbelievably accurate. I love it.

Speaker 1:

Serpentine is not, um, not a usual stone for people to have. It has become more popular, so I'm pretty sure that you can find it in shops near you, um, a lot of times. The really cool thing about it is it's shaped like well, I call them dragon eggs, but they're egg shaped. However, I still prefer to call them dragon eggs, um, and it just makes an incredibly cool display piece to have these, uh, stones and they look like eggs and the the druzy pockets in them are usually kind of shaped like these really cool crevices or cracks and it's just a really cool look. All right, let's take a look at our tarot for this week and see what kind of message we get from our tarot would help if I didn't drop half the deck and no besties. I'm not reading or doing 52 card pickup with the tarot cards. Maybe someday I might do an episode or maybe I'll go live on TikTok and, you know, do some live readings for anybody that might be interested in that. You'll have to let me know. That would be some great feedback to get on. That would be some great feedback to get on.

Speaker 1:

Socials is whether you guys would like something like that or not on TikTok. We're trying to become more active on TikTok. It's not our usual format for socials, so I've been kind of struggling with that a little bit. We're used to YouTube and of course we're used to posting, you know, information and infographic style stuff on Instagram. But you know, and there's a card. Youtube is, um, primarily like the, the video format that we're the most used to.

Speaker 1:

So it's going to be a two for one this week because while I was talking to you, an old friend of ours decided to show up and then a actual card showed up in terms of the draw itself. So I'm going to read both um, just to follow the cards lead, I guess. So the first one is the nine of pentacles are bumblebee Jasper that decided to show up and it's such a beautiful card. I got amazing feedback about bumblebee Jasper. I got amazing feedback about Bumblebee Jasper Last, the last podcast episode. One of the listeners wrote in that while the episode was happening, you know, like while I was reading the card, they literally were in the process of picking up a Bumblebee Jasper that had been sitting next to them. When I announced that that's what the card was was really cool synchronicity there.

Speaker 1:

So nine of Pentacles financial independence, comfort and gratitude. Bumblebee, jasper, is a celebration and positive attitude and abundance Treat yourself. You worked so hard to create all of the abundance in your life, so don't be afraid to splurge and enjoy the fruits of your labor. Celebrate your achievements. You deserve it. This is really kind of a theme for pride month.

Speaker 1:

So definitely, um, enjoy yourselves and celebrate and enjoy summer. Celebrate the warmth. Um. If you're in winter on the other side of the planet, I'm sorry. Um, no, I say that justingly, but winter is not my favorite season. Um, come over to the other side of the planet, where there's summer and sun and beaches.

Speaker 1:

Um, the next one is the 10 of cups. So this one decided to jump out while I was talking to you guys. And the 10 of cups is spirit courts, and this is happiness, relationships, reunion. Spirit court signifies unity, harmony and spiritual growth. Life is good. The 10 of cups embodies joy and harmony, especially in domestic and family relationships. Take a moment to appreciate and share the love with those that are close to you. This is completely apropos for our episode today, because we're talking about how to foster unity and harmony, how to spiritually grow, and this is all based on relationships with others, direct relationships with others, um, in both domestic and family, um, and seeking joy in it.

Speaker 1:

So these are your cards and divination for this week and the next week to carry with you the Nine of Pentacles, the Ten of Cups. I would be interested, if you have decks of your own, to hear what your decks have to say about those cards or your interpretation of those cards. To say about those cards or your interpretation of those cards? Um, every person that reads tarot, uh, has a lived understanding, if you will, of what certain cards mean and don't mean to them or their deck, and I always find those really interesting. I always learn a lot from those. If you do happen to have serpentine and you have a really cool one, take a picture of it and tag us. I would love to see it. And if you don't guess what, you now have an excuse to go to the crystal shop and buy more crystals. Don't tell anybody that. I told you that, but I think it would be a great idea. So this week I want you to tag us and share what pride and practice means to you. Share this episode with your classmates, coworkers and, yes, even your nurse manager.

Speaker 1:

Equity is a team effort and it starts with one shift, one patient and one brave nurse at a time. And to every LGBTQIA, plus nurse, student and human listening. You belong here. You make nursing better. You make life better. You're not just celebrated this month, you're sacred every damn day. It's pride 365 over here at the code team, over at mythical family and especially at the ritual nurse podcast. Just like always, love your faces. This is your ritual nurse, reva. Thanks for tuning in to the ritual nurse podcast. You can find us wherever you listen to podcasts, so don't forget to subscribe and stay connected For all our social links, free education classes, blogs and podcast notes with resources head over to tcthorg. Until next time, love your faces.